


Leviathan

by alkatie



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Bullying, Death, Disease, Episode: s05e02 The Beast Below, Episode: s05e03 Victory of the Daleks, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Experimentation, Mental Link, Minor Character Death, Space Pirates, alternative universe, but they all try so hard, inbetween, mental manipulation, nobody knows what they do, not as dark as it sounds, short chapers, so just the trigger warnings, space warriors, spoilerfree tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2018-12-31 08:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12128832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alkatie/pseuds/alkatie
Summary: A spaceship with remnants of the time war.A deadly disease and a desperate search for a cure.When time runs out, who is better to help than a Lord of Time himself.Or so they thought.





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Doctor Who.  
> This Story is unbetaed.

-o0O0o-

The Doctor stuck his head out of the door and froze. “Huh?”

Amy Pond’s head followed below him as she stepped out. She turned, found a glass railing behind the TARDIS and ran there to inspect her surroundings. It was painfully clear that they wouldn’t find Churchill- _Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill_ \- here.

They stood on a gallery in a plain, white and blinding room – the second gallery out of four to be exact. Only a spiral staircase with hovering stairs and a handrail connected the four of them on one corner, which led down to the floor.

“Where are we?” asked Amy. “What is this place?!”

He stepped beneath her. “Not London.”

Amy grunted. “No kidding.”

“A cargo hold? Well, an empty one.” The Doctor scratched his head in confusion.

There was nothing at all -- no shelves or anything else. Just strange rows of platforms and paths between them, with each platform exactly big enough to fit the TARDIS. Even from the gallery they stood on above, they formed two rows with a path between them. _Oh._ The TARDIS actually stood on one of the platforms.

Amy raised her eyebrows. “And where is this cargo hold?”

“Well, there’s a door down there.” The Doctor grinned. “Let’s find out!”

He didn’t need to tell Amy twice as she grinned back and ran forward to the stairs. She stopped all of a sudden when she realised the Doctor wasn’t following her. “Doctor? You wanted to figure this out, so come on!”

"It kinda looks like... " He flinched back out of a trance. “Sure. Coming!”

“Is everything all right?”

He grinned. “Of course. Come along, Pond!”

The Doctor jumped on the handrail and sled down. Amy shook her head laughing and followed him down. He pulled his sonic screwdriver out to tinker with the door but it opened on its own. “Huh. Unexpected, but not unwelcomed.”

Both of them stuck their heads out before stepping into the long, white, and flawless corridor. “Nice! Look, Doctor, the floor even has a red carpet for us!”

“Been there. Didn’t like it. Being a president sucks.”

“You were a president? Of what?”

“Yeah. Quite often actually, now that I think of it.” He paused. “I need a terminal. If those people are able to keep the carpet this clean, then they must have a computer terminal somewhere.”

As if summoned, a dark monitor was embedded into the wall on the next crossroad. The Doctor grinned like a child but froze when it activated on its own, with blue circles dancing on a lighter surface. Amy bent forward. She recognised those circles.

“Doctor? That’s exactly like that one display in the TARDIS.”

“Impossible.” The Doctor stared at the monitor, mesmerised.

“But it is,” insisted Amy.

“That’s impossible!”

Amy took a step backwards, surprised by the Doctor’s sudden outburst. He mumbled frantically under his breath and seemed unaware of what he was doing. He took out his screwdriver and began to dismantle the monitor, which beeped in protest once before dying down. It scared her even more.

“Doctor? Talk to me. What is impossible? Doctor!”

He had the monitor under his arm, pulling out its wires with his hands. “They are dead. They all died, I saw it. I know it. They’re _dead_!” he exclaimed.

“So will you if you touch one more wire.”

They both froze and Amy turned to see what caused the utter shock on the Doctor’s face. It was an alien, a humanoid around four and a half feet tall with blue scales and large, black eyes without pupils and irises. Strangely enough, the alien had white,thin hair and a nearly trimmed moustache. He was clad in a white military uniform with a grey belt holster and grey boots. The only visible spot of colour was an orange patch with the strange, circles on his left shoulder. Oh, he was also pointing a shimmering, silver handgun at them. The Doctor released the monitor’s wires and rose his hands slowly. Amy decided it was best to do the same.

“Thank you.” The alien’s voice sounded surprisingly human with an unrecognisable accent. “Please place the sonic device on the floor.”

“Oh, it’s just a screwdriver.”

“Please place it on the floor,” repeated the alien. “We know about sonic technology, sir.”

The Doctor smiled bitterly. “Of course, you do.”

Just like that, the man able to scare away an army of eyeball aliens planning to burn Earth to a crisp with the mention of his name, obediently dropped his screwdriver on the floor before kicking it to the alien.

Amy gulped. If the Doctor was scared now, then it would explain his frantic demeanour earlier. But the Doctor was never scared, not even while sitting in the mouth of a giant star whale.

With his gun still aimed and his unsettling eyes locked at them, the alien bent on one knee to pick up the screwdriver. He pocketed it somewhere behind his back and nodded. “Thank you for your cooperation, sir.”

The alien then lifted his arm and revealed a silver band under his uniform before speaking a strange, melodic language to it. If the Doctor seemed anxious before, he was petrified now.

“Doctor? Doctor… what is he?” asked Amy cautiously.

“Kapoaka,” hissed the Doctor between his teeth, as if this word should mean something to her.

“Okay,” said Amy slowly, “what’s he saying? I can’t understand him. Do you?”

“Gallifreyan. He’s informing the bridge. We’re on a spaceship.”

The alien stopped before speaking the strange language directed to the Doctor this time, and the Time Lord (which species even called themselves like that?) answered reluctantly. The alien tilted his head in an unhuman manner before speaking to his communication device again, then straightened his back.

“You will follow whatever direction I tell you to take. You will answer any questions asked without defiance,” instructed the alien methodically. “The Time Lords may be extinct but we are not. Understood?”

Amy glanced at the Doctor beside her but he didn’t notice and nodded. “Of course.”

“Thank you. If you may.” The alien gestured his free hand politely with the exception of a gun still aimed at them. They had no other choice than to step in front of him and allow his commands to direct them deeper into the ship, leaving the TARDIS behind with no chance to return to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and thank you for giving this a chance. The idea for this is probably not new, but I wanted to write my own adventure fic for the Doctor, and I hope you like it. Especially because this story in particular spawned one of my favourite Multichapterficts to tell and is it’s standalone prequel. I’m sorry, if the Doctor is a bit ooc. He is totally afraid of these guys and just wants to get out. If you’ve read my other stuff, you might have noticed, I tried a new and different writing style with easier and fewer words in this story. Mainly because it gets really dark later, but I want to keep it T-Rated for now. I have this whole thing planed out but write it as it goes.  
> This story is not betaed and English is my second language. Please tell me what you think, even if it sucks.  
> Enjoy!
> 
> alkatie


	2. II

-o0O0o-

They were brought into an office. It seemed like a visitors’ area with sparse décor, a desk, two chairs and a filled bookshelf. The desk was full of scattered papers, a half-filled mug, and a holographic picture of a ship rotating on its own which looked like a private loading screen. The area looked so mundanely human that it could be mistaken for a typical business office, with the exception of its blinding white walls and the enormous window with the view of outer space.

Yup, the window had an excellent view of the universe’s empty depths. Amy, unsure what to do, glanced at the uncharacteristically silent Doctor staring out into space next to her. They both had sat down by the desk as ordered and the Kapoaka  had withdrawn out of sight next to the door, giving them an illusion of privacy and security that they didn’t have. 

But Amy needed to know and so she bent forward and spoke with a low voice, “Doctor, he said Time Lords.”

She  first thought he wouldn’t answer but then his gaze left the window for the first time. “Yes.”

“But you said—”

“Yes,” interrupted the Doctor urgently. “Yes, but they must never know!”

“Why? You could—”

“No!” The Doctor sighed and rubbed his forehead. “It’s… they are dangerous. Very, very dangerous. One of the most fearsome warrior species to ever exist.”

“What? Those little blue guys?”

The Doctor rose his eyebrows. “The reason why their eyes _seem_ black is because you can’t see what they can. They’re able to absorb and process a ray spectrum thrice as wide as the human eye. Those scales are a mixture of horn and water reservoir, enabling them to survive months without nurture while also providing a natural shield against standard weapons. Their bones are enclosed in a natural structure of carbon so they’re nearly unbreakable. Did I mention they’re empaths and are connected through a hive mind to one telepathic being? Are you scared yet, Amelia Pond?”

Amy glanced to the little humanoid standing stiffly beside the door with a hand on his gun holster and gulped. “What do they want?”

“Them? Nothing, at least not from us. We’re the ones who suddenly showed up on their ship. If I’d known that it was still possible to run into Kapoaka..... But this _is_ impossible! There is a time lock surrounding the war. They cannot be here.”

Amy leaned forward, glad to finally have her bubbly Doctor back. “What’s a time lock?”

The Doctor paused and looked at her like she just asked the most absurd question in existence. “A lock in time. A physical and temporal barrier around a place and time, capturing everything inside it.”  
“So… they broke through it?”

“Nothing can break through a time lock. Everything that was ever part of that war was captured inside except this ship.”

“Maybe we accidentally broke in?”

“What did I just say? You can’t break in or break out. It’s physically impossible.”

“We’ve never been there.”

They both turned to the Kapoaka by the door but he didn’t seem to have moved at all.

The Doctor slowly rose from his chair. “What did you just say?”

“I am not permitted to speak to you.”

“You just did. You also said you’ve never been there. Never been where?”

“I am not permitted to speak to you,” repeated the Kapoaka. “Please go back to your seat, sir. The captain will arrive shortly.”

“The captain?”

The door opened and a Kapoaka clad in the same uniform but with a green patch on their shoulder marched into the room.

“Yes, the captain,” purred a female voice. There was no difference in their stature except she had no facial hair beside thin eyebrows and her hair was tied on a bun. “After stowing away on my ship and attempting to sabotage it, did you two believe you’d be sent to anybody less?”

The Doctor’s eyes widened. “Sabotage? That’s clearly a misunderstanding. We were just passing by… accidentally,” he added weakly.

The captain took her time circling her desk before sitting down. Amy knew the two of them were being scrutinised, despite not knowing exactly where the captain looked.

“In a time travelling device with technology the human species will never be able to reach.”

The Doctor gulped. “That I can explain.”

 _Was he scared?_ They were intimidating but there had to be something else. As usual, there were definitely things he wasn't telling Amy.

“I’m counting on it.” Her blue-scaled face was expressionless.

“See, I’m the Doctor, Doctor John Smith. And this is Amy Pond, my assistant from Leadworth. That’s on Earth.”

“That does not explain why there is a TARDIS in your possession.”

“Well, um—”

“We found it,” Amy blurted out.

“Found it.”

The Doctor nodded quickly. “Yes, yes! We– we found it. You see, there’s this Time Lord travelling the universe, calling himself the Doctor. You’ve probably heard of him.”

“I had the dubious honour of making his acquaintance once, yes.”

The Doctor blinked. “You did?”

“So did we,” Amy hepled out. “We travelled with him. He does that.”

He nodded. “He picks up other lifeforms everywhere and allows them to join him. Then one day, he was called and he brought us back. Said his people needed him. Amy discovered the TARDIS a few days later, abandoned and powered down in a junkyard. We’ve been trying to find him ever since.”

“A junkyard. On Sol III.”

“Yup. The guy who owns it is called Foreman. _”_

The captain drummed her fingers but she remained emotionless. “You are aware of the empathic abilities of our species.”

“Yes?” answered the Doctor hesitantly.

The captain paused as if she was waiting for something to happen. Which apparently didn't so, she continued, “How so?”

“The Doctor told us,” answered Amy.

“A Time Lord willingly talking about his species’ greatest failure? How fascinating.”

“Well, we can both agree that he’s not a normal one.”

The captain’s head tilted. “You’ve met others of his kind?”

The Doctor opened his mouth but there was a sharp knock, then a Kapoaka burst into the room before saluting. “Captain, my humblest apologies, but…” He froze warily.

The captain rose her chin. “Lieutenant Commander Blatso?”

“Nothing, ma’am.”

“You left the bridge and burst into my office shouting like a Plom market merchant for _nothing_?”

His fingers twitched but his face remained as blank as the captain’s. Of course! Empaths! They were able to feel each other’s emotions, so they didn’t need to express them. Was she able to feel their lies, too? But the Doctor knew that, didn't he?

The commander cleared their throat. “Ma’am, Transportation Deck 478 registered the materialization of a TTC. The signature indicates a Type 40, Mark 3 in the possession of the Lord Regent Doctor, Prydonian Chapter. The deck’s security data reports two individuals leaving said TARDIS, of which one has high readings of artron energy and other significant emissions to be classified as a Time Lord. This indicates the Doctor finally reaching the Laveat-han. However, it seems that the matter has already been taken care of.”

“Indeed, it is. Either inform me personally in a dignified manner or comm me next time, for time's sake. Dismissed.”

“Yes, ma’am. My apologies.” He saluted, nodded to the guard who found them and left the office. The captain massaged the scale between her eyes and Amy swore she exchanged a look with the guard. Then she sat straight again and her intriguing black eyes fixated on the Doctor’s frozen figure.

“You were saying, Doctor John Smith?”


	3. III

-o0O0o-

Amy eyed the cup of a deep golden liquid in front of her. The captain winked before pouring another for the Doctor. "Sadly, our last ration of sweetener run out a few days ago. On the other hand, I've been told that you drink this bland without any add-ons anyway, Doctor. I'm allowed to call you Doctor, Milord, you did take up that name again?"

"Mh? Yeah, yeah."

He nodded absentmindedly while staring at the liquid before taking a sip and grimaced. The captain instantly flinched. "Is the _ji_ not to your liking?"

"Oh, no. It's good. Magnificent. I've never been a fan of _ji lò_ , but its good. I don't like alcohol."

Even if Amy couldn't pinpoint exactly where the Kapoaka looked, this was definitely a glare. But the captain said nothing. The Doctor didn't notice. He continued to frown at his cup before suddenly placing it a little too forcefully on the table. "So, you knew all along."

"With respect, Milord. You're hard to forget and even easier to spot. Whatever face you may wear."

"Funny. Because I don't remember ever commandeering a force of Kapoaka."

"You didn't. That's the point."

He went still and closed his eyes, a weak smile growing on his face. "Sergeant Corha."

"Captain," she corrected.

Amy rose her eyebrows. "You know each other?"

"Scull Moon. He defeated a full force of Abominations with a screwdriver, a yarn and a waterskin. Not his sonic one, mind you."

_Huh?_ "You've been in a battle."

It made so much sense now. How else could he scare away a flying eyeball that wanted to burn earth, with just his name? But wait, on the star-ship UK he did say he fixed things. Maybe he swept in and saved everybody, ending that thing once and for all.

"Yes," he answered shortly, effectively interrupting Corha, who clearly wanted to say something on that matter. "Well, it was very nice. Blimey, look at the time. I should have tea with Churchill right now. Well that's me. Needing to be everywhere, all at once."

The captain bowed. "Of course. Who am I to hold you back. The Private will escort you back to your TARDIS the fastest way possible."

He blinked. "Wait, just like that?"

"Of course, Milord."

A wide beam started to spread across his face and he jumped up, looking back and forth between the two Kapoaka and then weaseled around the table to violently shook the Captains hand. "Very, very nice to have meet you. Well not, but a pleasure. Kapoaka, huh, didn't think I ever see one of you again. Don't start any wars. I hate to fix those. Well, then.. Bye. "  
  
He shot out of the room, stopped at the door, waved once, whirled around and was gone.  
There was definitely something wrong.  
Captain Corha made a quick gesture with her hand and the Private immediately asked Amy to follow her. Somehow the Kapoaka seemed to be used to his antics. Or they simply wanted him gone as much as he wanted to be out of here.

They caught up to him a few turns of the corridor later, the Private slightly panting.

"Doctor- "

"TARDIS now, questions later."

_But.._. A slump and coughing interrupted her thoughts and she turned to find the Kapoaka escorting them on his knees. What?  
Amy and the Doctor both went down on to assist him in an instant, but he flinched away, a trail of blood running out of his mouth. "Don't touch me!"  
Amy listened in an instant but not the Doctor. "Hey, everything's going to be all right."

"No, no. It's not. You need to go. Please. I've failed my commander, but please, please don't let him fail you, milord. You must go now!"

"Wait, you do have a commander? Then why- "

"You must go," he hissed, before he broke out into another coughing fit and slammed his hand on his silver bracelet with the communicator.

Amy watched helpless as the Doctor cradled the nearly seizing Kapoaka in his lap, ignoring his pleas to leave him and save themselves.

"Of for the sake of... Get away from him!"

Amy whirled around and was pushed away by Captain Corha who lunged with another Kapoaka at the Doctor to pull the ill one out of his lap and as far away as possible from the Time Lord.

"What-"

But they ignored the Doctor. Two other moved in a wagon which looked a bit like one of those capsules one would see in all those sifi-movies and placed the Private in it. The two carriers began frantically fussing over the poor guy, who constantly apologized for failing. The one with the captain pulled out a viral filled with a colorless liquid and pushed it into Amy's hands. "Drink."

"What's going on!"

"If you want to live, drink!"

"Amy don't, "the Doctor warned, but Captain Corha nodded. "It's an antidote. Drink."

"Why doesn't he get- "

"Time Lords are not affected. Drink."

"Only if you tell me what is going on!"

"Agreed. Drink."

Amy stopped, surprised by the openness of the Captain, then did as she told and ignored the Doctors shouted "no". It actually was like water, except the consistency was wrong. Too heavy.

"You should never do that! You didn't know what that was," the Doctor growled.

"An antidote, as I said," Corha reassured. "Against this Illness. We have a few cases on board, we handle it. A member caught a virus at one of our stops. Nothing you need to concern yourself with."

"Lies," the Doctor blurred out.

"Sorry? It's the truth."

His gaze never left the Captain. "The Antidote, yes. That other stuff. Not so much."

"Milord Doctor, I assure you-"

"You commander. Where is he. It's a he, right? The Commander of a Kapoaka-hive always greets another Time Lord. So, where is he? He said you have a Commander."

The Captain stiffened, staring up at the Doctor who had come closer with every word. "The commander wished indeed to see you, Milord. But as you were in a hurry to leave, he agreed to not hold you back."

He made a few steps back then looked around in the corridor with its blinding white walls and the red carpet. "It's a fine ship you have here. Leviathan- sorry, Laveat-han. Kalponian pronunciation."

"Scouting ship Leviathan, Space fleet of the 33th Colony of the Kapoakan Empire, Milord."

The Doctors eyes went wide. "Scout ship. What are you scouting for?"

"I'm afraid the parameters of our mission are secure, Milord."

"Oh really? Because I think you are searching for an antidote for that illness. Which didn't only befall the most of your crew, but also your commander. Y'all using that bracelets because he cut you from his mind, robbing you of your connection with each other. Kapoaka with a commander having to verbally communicate with each other or through gestures. That's going on for a while now, does it? You even developed a body language. Hah. Especially that young one. Baltso, right? If he had pulled that stunt on a fully crewed ship, he had never have survive that lack of discipline. But you are short on people able to fly that ship. And that's why you tried to kick us out."

The unknown Kapoaka with the navy-colored uniform, who has handed Amy the viral, nodded. "He's good. We can use him."

The Doctor instantly recoiled. "Use him for what."

Corha shook her head. "No."

"Ma'am, there is no point in hiding it now. They are both certainly contaminated. We can use their help at least."

"Help with what?" Amy asked impatiently.

The Kapoaka kissed his fist before pulling it to his collarbone in a swift motion. "Sikhu-le. Our Mission is indeed to find an antidote against said illness. Due to your contact with it, we need to keep you into a quarantine of 72h gallifeyan time on this ship, to assure you're not affected. It will be immensely helpful, if you could spend this time reviewing our process so far."

"72 hours! That's impossible. I will die out of boredom. Why?"

"As I said," Sikhu repeated," the contamination period ends after 72 hours. You are free to move on the ship. We just can't let you go."

The Doctor reached out to tap on the Kapoakas nose but stopped a few centimeters before it, clearly thinking better of it." No. I have an appointment with Churchill which can't wait. Plus the TARDIS has an excellent health system. So, bye."

"Well, I am afraid that's not possible," Capitain Corha interrupted.

They flinched. She didn't change her voice or her expression, but it was obvious that she was clearly ready to use all her power to keep them here.

"Besides," she continued, "this TARDIS is a TTC. This Churchill won't notice anyway. Please, Doctor, for the safety of yourself an your companion, I must ask you to stay at least for the minimum of the quarantine time. You're also certainly going to be of immense help to our scientific team to find a cure, Milord."

The Doctor scratched his cheek. "Oh. Sure. Whatever helps to keep me busy. Bring it on, Sikhu. Amy, I'm afraid Churchill has to wait for a few seconds."

"But didn't you say, you're not that kind of Doctor," Amy remebered skeptically.

Sikhu answered before the Doctor could. "The Time Lords are a Species of unimaginable power and intellect. Even if he might be not a healer or scientist, his insight on the topic will certainly still bedeeper than the one of any Kapoaka."

The Doctor grinned. "You see. Don't worry. It's going to be a bummer!"

Amy nodded, even if she didn't like that dedication of Sikhu one bit. Something wasn't right... Oh, Wait.

"Why does he need to be under quarantine. You said he's not affected."

"By the prototype of the Antidote we just gave you, yes. We have already established its inefficiency regarding Time Lords. You provide us with the incredible opportunity to discover how it works on another species and perhaps we can use it to finally make a breakthrough. So, your life is not completely wasted by our commander's mistake."

* * *

KD 07072018


	4. IV

-o0O0o-

"I hope your suite is to your liking."

The Doctor was livid. Understandably. Captain Corha eyed him warily. The oncoming storm. He had lost nothing of this majestic wrath that earned him the deep admiration of her race. "I can always arrange-"

"I want to speak with him," he interrupted her with barely a whisper while he still didn't take his eyes of the screen surveying Sikhu who showed his human companion the Laboratory.

"Sorry?" With Sikhu? She needed time to…

"Your Commander. Now."

"I'm afraid, that's not possible." She hated to disobey. But the Commander had explicitly stated the rules of the Doctor's stay, which included them never meeting until he wished otherwise.

"Because he's dying," the Doctor splat sarcastically. "And now you have me in a cage, to be his successor. Let me inform you of something. I'll never let anyone of you in my head. Never."

"I know," Corha answered. That was the intriguing thing about him. His mercy.

"So?"

"He really can't. He is very weak, I'm afraid."

He scoffed and turned away, starring out to the unmoving stars. She needed to say something. She owed him that, after what they did.  
"I am the captain of this ship and thus his second in command. Whatever you must discuss with him, I'll gladly substitute."

He glanced at her out of his eye. Then he turned and rose one finger. "No experiments on Amy."

Of Course. "I'm afraid that's not possible."

He towered over her, starring in her eyes. "You forget who you are talking to."

Oh never. Not in a million lifetimes.  
She closed her eyes, hoping Sikhu was successful. How she wished for her Commander to be healed, to be able to establish their bond, so she just could simply close her eyes to slip into Sikhu's body and check on him. Now, she had to trust her brother in arms.  
They were all going to die anyway. So, who cared about the wrath of a Time Lord.

"I see what I can do."

He nodded and left the bridge without another word.

-o0O0o-

Amy stared at the futuristic machines and weird constructs of metal and glass surrounding her. Why did the Doctor even allow them to take her with them? Oh right.  
That creep of a head scientist Sikhu had promised to explain.

In every other scenario Amy would be amazed by the incredible work and somehow still organized chaos of Kapoaka buzzing around, tipping at screens , controlling flames on an experiment or feeding a brunch of animals in a corner, or whatever else the occupants did. Now she was only able to think of one thing.  
"I'm going to die."

Sikhu sighted, clearly realizing she hadn't heard one word of his detailed explanation on whatever machine stood before them. "Not if I can help with it. Kapoaka are excellent Bio-engineers, and the people you see in this room are the finest of the finest."

"Then why didn't you find an antidote," she snapped back. Those guys had poisoned her, for all she knew. Used her as a lab rat. To hell with politeness.  
He apparently didn't care. Of course. Empaths.  
She focused even more on her hatred of this full ship. Somebody next to her turned their head, but Sikhu still didn't react, but carried on.  
"Because of the enormously fast mutation. Whenever the virus enters an organism, it takes a part of the new DNA into its own. It's constantly changing."

"Like the flue," she half-hardy asked. If they wanted to play with her life, she at least wanted to know why.

He flinched, then nodded. Interesting. "Like the human flu. The moment we have an antidote it has already changed. We can cure the people infected by that one type, but as soon as they are healed- "

"They get ill again, " Amy finished.

"Exactly. Here."

He made a motion of his hand and a blue two-dimensional field flared up before them. Amy watched baffled as he scribbled a circle with his finger on it and it stayed there. How cool was that! He then added five sticks to the first circle and drew small triangles onto them.

"This is one form of the virus and this ̶ " he added a second circle with five sticks with smaller circles at the end to the first- " is another Version of this Virus. The symptoms and how it affects the body are the same and yet it looks different enough , so the antibodies can't recognize it. Every vaccination against one of them has no impact against the other. And vaccinate is the only way to survive this. So, the key is to find the thing those two forms have in common. What makes this one and the same Virus. And train the Antibodies to attack it." He tapped at the circle with the five sticks.

Ok. He actually had taken the time to explain it easily? Now she was interested. "And how do I come into it?"

"Honestly? Fresh blood."

Amy gulped at this bluntness, but he continued. "We already isolated the common trait and are currently experimenting which components can be stripped off to create a save, yet effective vaccinate. If we take of too much it, the real treat won't be recognized. If we take of too little, it will still infect and kill. Everybody on this ship was infected at least once, so the experiments aren't neutral anymore. The already built antibodies are playing in."

"So, I'm nothing but a lab rat."

He barked out a short laugh. "Say, Miss Pond. Have you ever been on a star ship?"

Amy nodded.  
He suddenly lunged forwards, sweeping her of her feet so she fell on her back. Before she could do anything, he pinned her down with his knee on her chest, his right hand at her throat and his left pressing her right hand on the floor. His black orbs of eyes were exactly above her, filling her whole view and she started thrashing. She needed to get him off! But she couldn't, he was too strong! Her breathing became ragged, her gaze blurred from tears and her head became dizzy. No! Doctor, please! Doctor!  
She felt Sikhu's surprisingly cold breath on her cheek, as he learned forward to whisper in her ears.

"Liar. You never were. You are a smart human; the Lord Regent would never honor you by let him travel with you otherwise. So, feel it. Can you feel it?"

She shook her head, not knowing what he wanted.

"Exactly. Nothing."

He pulled back and let her hand and her throat go, but still pinned her down with his knee. He let her take some breaths before he continued.

"This is a dead ship. A Death Ship. Every molecule of the air, of the interior, of the engine and of the beings here is poisoned with a virus, we can't win against. We ran out of fuel two week ago. And I, in my dedication and mercy, grant a mere human the gift of perhaps being the only person walking alive away from it. Because you can in that TARDIS of yours. Donating just three drops of blood every day you spent here, as an exchange for something everybody on this ship would kill you for. But we don't. All we ask for, are three days. The Antidote is already inside you. Just three days to save the universe, Miss Pond. Isn't that what you and the Doctor are doing?"

She stared up at him with tear-blurred, wide eyes, knowing he wanted a decision right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amy didn't notice the lack of an engine, because the other spaceship she ever visited, the Starship UK hadn't one, either. I'm sorry for Sikhu.
> 
> KD 07072018


	5. V

-o0O0o-

Amy absentmindedly fiddled with the band-aid in her armlet, starring at the painting on the wall, without seeing it. She had a whole suite for herself, which freaked her out even more. The Doctor was only a door out in the corridor away, but he couldn't help her, when something like that happened again. Amy wasn't even sure if she should tell him. He did say she had no right to decide what he knew.  
But she was scared of what would happen if he knew.

There was a soft tingling noise, again. She needed to find out what that was and stop it for the night. It was going on in a cycle of fifteen second for at least five minutes now. But she couldn't care.  
Why didn't the Doctor just do as he was told by the private and had left? They would never be stuck. She would have met Churchill instead. She still couldn't believe that gruff voice on the phone had been the legendary prime minister. But then, who was she to knew how exactly Churchill's voice sounded. But she would have known by now.  
Somebody knocked at the door.

Amy flinched and stood up, crossing her arms before her chest. "Yes?"

The Door opened and a Kapoaka came in, its head respectfully lowered. It did the greeting Amy came to know as typical for their species, kissing the fist and then pulling it down to the collarbone, before it presented her a flat object with a bow.

"What's that, "Amy eyed that thing critically. It looked a lot like a note board, actually.

"Your diet, Milady," the Kapoaka mumbled in a nearly inaudible voice.

Amy furrowed her brows and came closer. It was a paper-like sheet with some strange unreadable flowy lines on it, like some really messy handwriting. "I can't read that."

It immediately bowed. "I... apologize. It is a formula to note which substances are edible to you. Eh, your species is carbon based, right? So, proteins in general, but are there any you can't digest? Or that are poisonous? Also, glucose. Uh, how high has the- "

_Oh._ "You should speak with the Doctor about this. I'm no scientist, to know that."

The Kapoaka stopped it's rambling, looking at her with these black eyes, before it realized what it had done and lowered its head immediately. Amy didn't care. It felt good to have one of those things so obedient, to be in control.

"Why? With all due respect."

"What?"

It played with a golden pendant of a necklace around it's neck, clearly uncomfortable. Its eyes flickered to hers before they wandered to another point in the room.   
Funny, how Amy came to be able to pinpoint where those black orbs without irises or pupills looked in such a short time.

"Why… Why would the Lord Doctor know more about… well, about your race than… yourself? I mean, he's a Time Lord but even they don't know everything… So, I asked myself… Why?"

Surprised by the genuine question Amy actually took a second to think, before she answered. "People, except scientists, don't know that. I can tell you food, but not the actual chemical substances. And the Doctor travels around a lot with humans. I'm sure he already was in that situation to know if someone could eat an alien food or not."

"Oh, I see. Well, then I'll do that."

It hesitated.

"Is... is there anything else I can help you with. Are your quarters to your liking? I took the liberty of bio-programming the doors, so only you, the Lord Doctor and myself have access to those rooms. The door to your bedroom only allows yourself inside. Eh, you can change that by simply giving a blood sample to the scanner inside."

Amy stared at it… no. That one was an actual person, she was sure of that.

"What's… what's your name?"

The Kapoaka flinched and mumbled something inaudible.

Amy rose one eyebrow. "Sorry?"

"Sheela. Sheela-le." Sheela bowed.

Amy smiled weakly, then did the greeting. "Amy-le."

Sheela's eyes went wide. "Oh. Oh no. I am serving. You do not."  
She giggled and fiddled with her necklace.

"That's what it means?"

Sheela nodded, her eyes flickering between Amy's eyes and the Table next to her. "The lower ranking person greets the higher one with the intent to serve. You only need to say your name."

Amy nodded, then made a decision. "Amy- le."

For the first time Sheela's eyes actually held her gaze. And even if they were as black as Sikhu's, they were warm, like the darkness in a pillow fort. "No. It is bad enough that Sikhu steals your blood in his desire to proof himself and keeps it from the Lord Doctor. You serve nobody, Milady Amy."

Amy flinched. "How do you know!"

Came to think, how did she know that Amy didn't feel save in her own quarters?

Sheela lowered her eyes. "The only positive reason to be me, I think. One does often forget I'm there. So, I hear all kind of stories. He said you agreed, you were consent. Sikhu, to the Lord Doctor. The Lord Doctor is not sure if he shall believe it or not. You must be a very good person if he thinks you'll help us."

"I have no problem with helping you," Amy growled. " If they had asked! And not just did it and then-"

"Pushed you into an ultimatum," Sheela ended the sentence with a tilted head. 

Amy groaned. _Really_? "That's not funny."

"I'm sorry. It's not. I though you would appreciate a bit of you human's gallows-humor. I think, I got the concept wrong. Sorry."

Amy laughed. Somehow, she liked that awkward, shy person. Despite her being a Kapoaka.

"So, you're my servant, now?"

Sheela shook her head. "No. I'm the one having dealt with humans before. A long time ago. And I'm the one having to do everything, so, that's that."

"Everything?"

"Yes."

"What's your rank then? Or are you a scientist?"

Sheela played with her necklace and avoided her eyes. "Neither."

"You're the intern!"

"What's an intern?"

"You know, an Intern. The person getting all the throwaway jobs, is completely underappreciated and underpayed for their workload and must get coffee for everybody?"

"Uhm, I have no idea what coffee is, but… well the other things describe me pretty accurately, so… I am an intern, I suppose? And a fellow lab rat."

Amy flinched. "What?"

Sheela nodded sheepishly. "If there is anything you need, feel free to ask. We all will do our best to make you stay as comfortable as possible. Not everybody is like him, he's just... desperate."

"That is not an excuse!"

"An explanation," Sheela corrected swiftly. "It's an explanation. There is no excuse for him."

She looked down a second, then remembered her task. "Well, uhm, I really need to get this formula done, or you won't get any meal this evening. And you should. I hate going to bed hungry. Everybody hates to go to bed hungry. I better hurry, right? So,then... Thanks for the conversation. It was a pleasure to meet you, Milady Amy. I hope the first impression of my species was at least a bit salvaged. Not everybody is like Sikhu. I already said that, didn't I? Sorry, I just...If you excuse me now."

And with that she was gone, leaving behind a calmer but even more puzzled Amelia Pond.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KD 07072018


	6. VI

-o0O0o-

"What are the Kapoaka."

The Doctor stopped munching and stared at her surprised. "Mh?"

Amy put aside her silverware. "I mean, they obviously have a connection with the Time Lords. Where do they come from?"

He gulped down. "That's a long and very boring story."

"You're avoiding the question. And I got to know somebody who would tell me, probably. But I want to hear it from you. So, Doctor. Tell me."

They were sitting together in the living room of the Doctor's quarters, having sandwiches and some alien fruits for dinner.

"You met somebody, beside Sikhu?"

"Yes, she seemed ok. A bit shy at first, but then she warmed up and got really talkative. She's the girl for everything here, apparently. You'll meet her probably soon, too. Sheela."

"Strange. It's not like the Kapoaka to have someone like that. They're pretty rooted in their social roles. This ships crew is nothing like the Kapoaka I know."

"So how are they normally?"

The Doctor sighted and tapped his plate with his knife. "We… don't speak about them often."

"Corha called themselves the Time Lords greatest failure," Amy remembered.

The Doctor nodded. "That's because the Time Lords created them."

Amy rose her eyebrows. "Huh?"

"Pretty neat, eh? I told you, there've been a war. The last great time war. Which indicates there had been more. But never, never before the Time Lords themselves have been engaged in one. They're the self-proclaimed guardians of time. They always have been the third neutral party to end them. Like the one in which the Kapoaka nearly lost everything. The species fighting it are forgotten and erased. And the Kapoaka were just civilians in a conflict, out of their understanding. They were crippled and disfigured. They were only time-remnants of a not yet fully destroyed Timeline in which their home planet had existed."

"But the Time Lords saved them, didn't they? Your people saved them."

The Doctor nodded. "They were able to preserve them. They couldn't give the Kapoaka back their home, nor their real lifespan or their ability to reproduce themselves, but they helped them as much as they were able to. Really untypically. But the Kapoaka were important to the net of time. So, Galllifrey provided them with a new planet they were able to live on, access to the gallifreyan technologies of artificial reproduction, and thus involuntary the ability to bioengineer themselves. Which was the beginning of one of the mightiest races of warriors, only surpassed by the Daleks themselves."

The best Bioengineers, Sikhu had said. Amy wasn't hungry anymore.

"Your…The Time Lords let this happen?"

"Their law of non-interference prohibited them to do anything once they've discovered what have happened. They only were able to distance themselves from this violent race. Because the Kapoaka were violent, the exact opposite of the impassive Time Lords. They fought constantly and punished every single break of the law of time. So, what happened to them would never happen to any other species again."  
He smiled bitterly. "Classic irony of the universe. Good intent, bad execution. They devasted all of time and space."

Amy stared at him warily. "And the Time Lord stood by."

"There is a reason, I left that planet. Wanting nothing to do with them. But that was one of the few times they didn't. Back then the corruption wasn't that spread."  
It had been a mistake to ask him about this.

"Doctor, you don't need to-"

"No," he interrupted tired. " You need to know exactly what you are dealing with. Normally… Normally there's no need. But this. Right here. Right now. This is important. That's why I have to tell you this. Because of what they did. Because what the Kapoaka are."

"What happened, " she carefully asked, giving in. She hated to see him like that. That wasn't her raggedy man. But if he insisted that she needed to know, it was important. He always told her the important stuff at least.

"They forged one of the few alliances the Time Lord ever made. They were hiding themselves on that old daft planet, you know, barely leaving it. They kept them in control, used the Kapoaka's only weakness, and the universe forgot them and moved on. Until the Time Lords were engaged in a war themselves, the one turning out to be Gallifrey's downfall."

Amy shuddered at the memory how effortlessly Sikhu had taken her out. Ok, she wasn't a treat to anybody in that regard, but still. That had been skill.

"How did they control them?"

The Doctor closed his eyes. "You need to understand, that the Time Lords were corrupt, power hungry beings, with a quite questionable moral from a human perspective."

"How," Amy asked again.

"Remember what I've said about the hive minds? It's their biggest strength and greatest weakness. In the beginning the telepathic being in control has been some special conditioned Kapoaka. During the alliance it was a Time Lord."  
He played with his fork and a piece of purple fruit on his plate. "They controlled their minds. Depending on the person, they sometimes were just minions, extra limbs of the Time Lords body with no own will. Some let them roam freer. I have never seen a Hive as individual as this one. And, Amy, it scares me to death. They need a connection to a hive, or a part of their brain is missing. Their current commander is dying," he added in a whisper.

Amy's eyes grew big. "They would?"

"Yes. With leaving me no choice. You are not the only one trapped. I'm grateful you decided to help them, but it creates an even bigger dilemma."

Amy gulped, understanding immediately. "If you refuse to find a cure, they die. If they find a cure, you become the new commander and must enslave them at some point, 'cause you're the only Time Lord left and they know now you exist."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KD 08072018


	7. VII

-o0O0o-

"Do you play chess?"

Amy's thoughts returned to the present. "Huh?"

"Do you play chess," the Kapoaka in the blue uniform repeated. With that short curly hair and that voice it could be a female one, so definitely not the one tasked to take her blood. Her face was empty, but she seemed to wait for an answer, so Amy tried to remember the question.

"Chess? One of my therapists tried to teach me, but I suck?"

"Why would you suck at a chess piece. As far as I know humans can't digest cellulose. Or can they? Your games are made traditionally out of wood, right? Or do you use metal? But you can't digest those either."

"It means, she's bad at it, " interrupted the medical assistant Amy already came to know yesterday. She refused to learn his name.  
He greeted her and launched directly into questioning and the routine of the examination she already knew. The other Kapoaka patiently stood by, observing everything with interest. Amy hated those black eyes, seizing her and picking her apart. Nothing like Sheela's comforting, trustworthy gaze.

When the needle left her arm, he started to smear some rubber-like cream on the wound, which instantly sealed off. That was different to the Band Aid from yesterday. "She's all yours, Urma-syu."  
So it was a woman.

"Oh, I just wanted to clear up my question," Urma dismissed. "You do play chess, right?"

"Why do you want to know that?"

"Urma," hissed one of the guards standing around in a corner of the room.

"What? I just-"

The security officer was with swift steps next to her and interrupted her. "Not like that."  
Then she did the traditional greeting. "Aleha-le. I apologize for my friend's rude behavior. We had a discourse on that matter. Being the scientist she is, she instantly went into research, I'm afraid."

Urma's eyes went wide. "Right. Urma-le. Head scientist Bioelectric Development. Sorry. If you don't play chess, I can teach you," she added.

"That has nothing to do with your research," the medical assistant commented sharply.

"I don't remember any orders prohibiting contact on a social level, Njadu," Urma shot back. "We exploit that poor girl enough. She is not a resource but a sentient being."

He sighted and rubbed his temple. "I know. Sorry, It's just Sikhu-syu."All three Kapoaka ended the sentence simultaneously, even if only Njadu used the honorific.  
"Yes, "he smiled tiredly.

"So, he's always like that," Amy carefully probed. It seemed none of the Kapoaka she had met so far liked him.

"Corha-jun could hold him back a bit more," lamented Njadu. "I haven't slept in four days and that was before the new data from Lady Amy came in."

"You can always go to Level Beta-0R3 and sleep properly."

Njadu huffed and left. Urma clicked her thounge. "Lazy Buffoon. Sikhu wouldn't allow him to work if he was that sleep deviated. He's ruthless and efficient. His team always needs to be on the top, so he at least cares for them properly. That's the only reason why Corha still allows him to continue his work."

"He's out of control ever since our commander needed to withdraw," Aleha explained, "he was a decent person when the hives conscious backs him. Add his student's death to the mix and, well." She shrugged.

"And that he lost all hope to ever save anybody, until you turned up and presented him the Opportunity not only to redeem himself but accomplish the most important deed in the medical history of the universe and be able to spread it," added Urma.

Amy sighted. "Sheela hinted at that, too."

"Wait. Sheela? As in Sheela, Sheela?"

Amy nodded, surprised by Urma's astonishment. "I think?"

Aleha slapped Urma's arm. "Stop projecting that thought-pattern, she can't feel or identify that. Besides, she's a human accompanying a Time Lord. Of course, she met Sheela."

"Why? Is that something special," Amy asked suspicious.

"Oh, she's just very busy. You rarely see that Kapoaka ever around, except when she has a task involving you. Don't get used to her presence."

"She said that, too," Amy smiled but felt a pang of sadness. She liked Sheela.

Both Kapoaka grinned back and one could clearly see they had no Idea how facial expressions worked. It looked terrifying and hilarious at once. She giggled.

"So, want to learn chess," Urma repeated her question.

"What's with chess and you," Amy shook her head disbelievingly.

"Time Lords like playing chess. And I'm good at it."

"The Best," added Aleha.

"There are two Time Lords on the ship and I never was able to play against Sheela and Rhotu. So that's not completely proven, however a seemingly adequate assumption," Urma corrected.

Amy smiled, depicting the Doctor in a game of chess. "I don't think the Doctor couldn't sit still long enough to set up the board."

"I actually saw him playing against Corha just a few hours ago."

"Really?"

Urma nodded enthusiastically.

Amy once again seized up the two Kapoaka before her.  
Aleha, with her stiff and military stance, simple and grounding presence and her open steady gaze, taking everything in and clearly being able to react to anything at once.  
Urma, with her laser like focus and caring for a morality a lot of people on his ship seemed to lose, despite being a scientist. Or maybe because of it.  
But most of all, they didn't want to socialize with her because they felt guilty of what Sikhu was doing. Or so she hoped.

"Ok. But one question first. Why were you asking me?"  
  
Aleha signaled the other Security officer in the room that she would bring Amy back, then swiped her hand before the sensor opening the doors into the corridor. "A bet. I won, by the way."  
  
"What? You didn't. She can play chess!"

"She is bad at it, so she can't"

"Ridiculous. For that statement to happen-"

The two continued bickering, fully trusting that Amy would follow them. Which she did.  
The Doctor did say this hive was unlike any he had met, and from what he had told her, they really were. Except Sikhu, but she successfully avoided him up until now.  
Perhaps those three days were going to turn out not as bad.


	8. VIII

-o0O0o-

Amy let herself fell forward into her bed, stayed motionless for a second, before she grabbed her pillow in a sudden impulse and screamed her frustrations in it.

Stupid Doctor. Stupid Ship. Stupid adventure.

He wanted her to stay in her quarters for her own safety, but she never was save to begin with.  
She knew she wouldn't be, she took that risk when she stepped into his blue box.

Now she was sitting around in her quarters, while he discussed science with the Kapoakas. He didn't even think of the fact that maybe, he needed her. He had, back on the star ship UK. She refused to listen to the tiny voice in her head, that he wanted her out of his way. She didn't even understand the language they were talking in, after all.

She felt like a real lab rat, locked away and only let out to be useful.

NO!

The Kapoaka were dangerous. She knew that, Sikhu wasn't a person to be forgotten, with the bruises left on her arm where he had pinned her down. Ahela and Urma were friendly and ok to hang out with, but both sometimes stated things in the way a human never would. Their species was ruthless and violent, with no word for "thank you" in their native thong and full of pride. Sikhu had faced a lot of backlash but not for manhandling and blackmailing her but disrespecting and deceiving a Time Lord and his companion, both honored guests of the ship.

None of them needed to spent time with her, but all Kapoaka were extremely social and constantly chatted about anything, and the two close friends instantly liked Amy and had taken her under their wings. Aleha quickly became the one fetching her for the donations she had to make three times a day. But both of them sometimes popped in for a few minutes to look after her and Urma even tried to teach her chess, but it did nothing to the growing restlessness and frustration. Just one more day.

True, the more Kapoaka she came to know, the more willingly she 'assisted' them. But it still did 't change the fact that she was imprisoned. If it weren't for that, she could call them friends. But she could not trust them. She couldn't trust any Kapoaka, just like Doctor had said.

The soft tingling noise which she came to know as her doorbell interrupted her thoughts. She rose her head and mumbled the command, so the ship told her the current time. Nope. Three more hours until the next donation and four to the next meal. She let her head fall back into the pillow. She wanted to be alone, she wasn't in the mood for dealing with the chatty nature of any Kapoaka nor the Doctor right now. She just wanted to leave. The doorbell chimed again, and she ignored it two more times.

"Go away;" she growled in her pillow. "You know I'm here and if I'm not opening I don't want to talk. Surprise!"

They tried it a fourth time, but not a fifth. Finally!

"Milady Amy?"

Amy screamed at the sudden voice and fell out of her bed.

The gasp and the following flood of excuses left only one conclusion and helped Amy to calm down enough to be able to entangle herself out of her bed sheet and sit up so she could see the door.

"Sheela!"

"Sorry," the Kapoaka squeaked once again with large eyes and her hands before her mouth. If the biofield of the open door didn't refused her entrance, she certainly would already fuss over her, Amy was sure of that. "Never do that again."

"Of course," Sheela quickly nodded.

Amy had completely forgotten that Sheela was able to enter her suite without permission, mostly to the fact that she hasn't seen her for the last two days after their first meeting. A rare sight, indeed.

She stood up and dumped the sheet back on her bed. "What are you doing here."

"Me? Oh, right, sorry. I heard you scream and wanted to check if everything is all right. Are you all right?"

She heard Amy screaming? Amy blinked surprised, then nodded. "Yeah. Everything's fine."

"Really? Oh, good. It's just, I noticed you leaving your quarters only when necessary."

"Yes."

"Is there any... particular reason for that?"

"Yes." Didn't she notice that Amy wanted her to leave?

"A reason I might somehow help with," Sheela persisted.

"No," Amy bluntly dismissed.

Sheela didn't move, simply stared at her. They sometimes did this, when they forgot that Amy needed to read body language to understand them. It was not natural for Kapoaka. But at least the empath had finally gotten the message.

"I see. If you excuse me then. I hope you enjoy the last few days, too. Until soon, milady Amy."

She used the typical salute and disappeared as soundless as she came.

Amy closed her eyes. Great.

Then she followed her. "Sheela!"

This Kapoaka was probably the last person on this ship deserving to bear the target of her foul mood. She had been the only one to offer nothing but help.

"Sheela!"

She caught her at the beginning of the winding corridor, leading down to the next level. Amy wasn't aware of any stairs or lifts on the ship. There was just a soft rise in the floor at some point. The whole ship was constructed in a constant spiral of slowly winding up corridors. It was amazing.

The Kapoaka turned at the sound of her name and stopped, clearly curious. "Milady Amy?"

Amy sighted. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let my anger out on you. It's just... this ship-"

She stopped and helplessly threw her hands in the air. Sheela patiently waited for her to find words. Strangely enough, it helped.

"I… The Doctor doesn't want me to leave my rooms. It's too dangerous he says. And it's ok, I guess. People visit me and stuff. But its –"

"Suffocating," Sheela finished, and Amy nodded.

The Kapoaka eyed her thoughtfully then turned. "Follow me."

"Where?"

"It's a surprise."

Amy gulped. Sheela had been nice and all. But it was difficult to simply trust any Kapoaka. "No."

"Come on, you're going to like it!"

Amy crossed her arms. "I'm not following you anywhere without knowing where we're going."

Sheela turned. "It's completely save. You will find no harm under my protection, I promise you." She bowed.

"And I believe you. But I'd still like to know where we go. Please."

A small defeated smile escaped her. "I want to show you the place I retreat to whenever I'm feeling the same in this tin of a ship."

"Oh. Thank you." It made sense. Sheela was traveling around for a much longer time. "Can I ask, where exactly this is?"

"The fruit gardens."

Sheela started to walk again. Amy blinked then followed her. "You have a garden on this ship?"

She giggled. "We do not have the capacity to store a supply of fruits or a 236-year long tour of the universe in this ship, so yes."

"Two-hundred-thirty-six years!"

"Since the illness broke out and we left the colony in search for an antidote, yes."

"You're this old?"

"Of course not. I'm one-thousand and five."

Amy stumbled. What? "You're older than the Doctor!"

Sheela didn't notice. "The Doctor is not the 900 years old he pretends to be."

Amy gulped. But why would he lie about his age.

Sheela apparently picked up on her distress because she continued talking. "He likes you humans. Besides, nobody knows for sure how old he is, not even himself. So, he chooses a number that shows you he is old and alien, but doesn’t put you off too much."

"How old can a Time Lord get."

"One or all thirteen regenerations?"

"What is a regeneration?"

Sheela threw her a disbelieving look, then stared ahead "It's not my place to talk about this, I'm afraid."

"Oh. Ok. How old can a Kapoaka get?"

"Around 1200, of a natural death. Only a few get this old." Which explained why Sheela seemed so proud of her age.  And that spawned just even more questions.

-o0O0o-

It turned out, Sheela knew surprisingly much about humans and earth. It was refreshing to talk with her, because even if she was as chatty as all Kapoaka, she was able to shut up and listen as well, and really good at figuring out when to do what.

This was what Amy had missed the time she was on that ship, what had her made feeling like a lab rat: People listening to her.  
The Doctor was constantly busy dealing and distracting the command center, so nothing worse happened, and only saw her for a few hours over the last two days. Aleha and Urma both weren’t simply able to listen. Amy didn’t know if it was their differing species or simply their personality. All other Kapoaka just ordered her around, even if they used polite words. Not Sheela.

The fruit garden had turned out to be a forcing house with no real soil, but all plants rooted in white glass-wool instead. They still sat down between the trunks, stole fruits to munch on and talked about anything and all. About how Amy came to travel with the Doctor, how a duck pond was called that even if there were no ducks living in it, and which fruit pie was the best. About local customs on planets Amy definitely needed to visit, Agatha Christie, and why the Kapoaka were blue. Both figurally and literally.

Sheela was in the middle of trusting Amy with the secret that she loved humour but couldn’t tell jokes or puns at all, when her bracelet started beeping. She apologized and took the call. Immediately a rapid string of words filled the forcing house, and Amy could swear she had heard her name somewhere in there. Sheela answered in a calming voice, tying to stop the frantic person on the other end and made her listen. It worked but instead of calming down, a real rant started this time before the other hung up.

Sheela blinked twice. “Well… uhm.”

“Everything all right,” Amy asked concerned. That had sounded really bad.

“No?” Sheela started to fiddle with her necklace and avoided Amy’s eyes. “Uhm… Apparently we’ve been here kind of about four and a half hours? So, you missed your appointment and dinner with the Doctor. And now he kind of turns the ship upside down, because he can’t find you.”

“What!”

Four and a half hours? Amy linsed up to the bright lamps of the ceiling. The lights always dimmed down into a more yellow tinted, warmer white during the night-phase of the ship.

“Yeah, I kind of forgot the light circle works different in here, too.” Sheela admitted sheepishly.

Amy stared at her unbelievingly and Sheela looked back but still refused to meet her eyes. To call this situation awkward was an understatement. And yet, Amy could barely hold her laughter down. Sheela noticed immediately, and the corner of her lips twitched upwards sheepishly. It was enough for Amy to snort and start laughing. And even if Sheela’s face was nearly motionless, she was definitely amused, too. Amy was thankful she didn’t try to copy her expressions like Aleha and Urma did, but simply displayed the ones she had learned on her own. It was less creepy.

“I’m glad you did,” Amy admitted after she had calmed down and wiped the tears of laughter out of her eyes.

Sheela abruptly stood up. “ Captain Corha ordered me to calm him down and investigate what happened to you immediately. I better bring you back as fast as possible.”

Surprised by the sudden change in mood Amy nodded silently and followed her.  
The walk back was silent and Sheela was always one step before her, no matter how fast Amy walked to catch up. When she entered the Doctor’s quarters, she only stepped inside and directly out of the way. Then she did the salute without a word and added a strange bow at the end.

The Doctor pacing up and down before Corha and two security officers and fiddling with his hands immediately stopped. He glanced at Amy, making sure if she was all right and then fixated the Kapoaka. He was angry, but it died down in favor of some restrained curiosity.

He inspected her closely, and Amy remembered, it was the first time him meeting her. "Sheela, right?"

"Yes, Doctor."

No 'milord'. Just like he preferred it.

His eyes lingered on her form a little longer, before he turned to Amy. "You should tell somebody where you go. Leave a message or scribble a note. A post-it! Write a post-it, please, at least. They stick everywhere, and you can’t miss their colours. You could leave a trail to follow, too. In case anything happens. Please. Post-it’s are awesome."

Amy sighted. "Sheela promised me, she keeps me save."

The Doctor went silent and the remains of his anger disappeared completely. His eves went to Captain Corha and another officer, then back to Sheela. "You promised her?"

For whatever reason the other three Kapoaka seemed strangely uncomfortable. Sheela simply nodded and repeated her promise.

The Doctor eyed her up. "We'll see. You may go."

The four Kapoaka saluted and left, while the Doctor followed Sheela with her eyes. "We'll see."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KD 07012018


	9. IX

**-o0O0o-**

„Three more times and you are done,” greeted Ahleha cheeringly.

“Good morning to you, as well.” But she was right, it was the final day of the quarantine. Amy closed the door to her suite behind her. “Three more times and you are rid of me”, she answered.

“But I enjoy being with you. I hate seeing getting you hurt. Everyone does.”

“Even Sikhu,” Amy provoked.

“We told you, our commander withdraw, Amy, so don’t ask things you know we can’t answer. But all of us got very worried yesterday. You gave us a real scare. Disappearing like that on a ship were everybody is always in danger of the spontaneous outbreak of the symptoms.”

“Sheela was with me,” Amy defended herself against the scolding.

“Exactly,” shoot Aleha back.

Had they really been that worried? But then the Doctor had apparently turned the ship upside-down. Amy remembered his anger from the Starship UK. So, had they really been worried about her or about the Doctor? She never knew. This ship turned her more paranoid with every second, let her constantly question the motives behind any interaction. Even Sheela…. No!  
Not Sheela. Sheela was safe.

“She promised me to keep me safe.”

Aleha huffed scornful. “A promise is tied to a Kapoaka’s honour. Worse than breaking one, is making one you can’t keep.”

Amy stopped. “Ok. What exactly is your problem with her?”

“Nothing,” Aleha grumbled.

The rest of the way, they kept an uneasy silence.  
As soon as they reached the Lab, Aleha left her at the door and simply walked off to her post without another word.  For the first time Amy was actually glad to see Njadu and that chair where she had to sit for the examination. The routine of the same questions calmed her down.

He was in the middle of taking a blood sample when every Kapoaka in the room suddenly grow quiet and busied themselves even more.  
And the next second Sikhu stepped through the door, followed one step behind by Sheela, who kept her eyes downcast and clutched a writing board in her arms.  
Amy grew cold, but Sikhu completely ignored her and directly went to one of the many projects at one side of the room. One of Urma’s projects, Amy uneasily discovered, when the scientist promptly hurried over to meet the newcomers.

Amy focused on whatever Njadu did but couldn’t help to glance over occasionally. They seemed to discuss some data at length, before Sikhu pointed some strange device at Sheela’s wrist. He took her blood, too. He looked at the device for a few seconds, reading something, before nodding to Urma.  
Sheela did say something about being a lab-rat, too, didn’t she?

Urma directed her to a platform in one of the corners. There were three poles on it, arranged in a triangle. The both on the front had each a silver globe on it, while the one in the back looked like a T. The whole thing was surrounded by a blue shimmering containment filed, but Amy had seen people step through it before.

Njadu was finished and Amy stood up to see better, when Sikhu suddenly turned up at her side. “And how is the lady feeling?”

Amy flinched. “Good. I think.”

He grabbed Njadu’s digital clipboard and swooped through the data. “Hm. Any respiratory ailments?” Amy shook her head.

“Soreness in the area of your cheekbones? Hearing difficulties?” Amy shook her head again. He did have the data right in front of him, why did he asked her all that stuff again?

“What did you have for breakfast yester-“

He was interrupted by a long shriek of pain. Sheela!

The Kapoaka stood in the Triangle, her back leant against the T-pole and each hand on one of the spheres. Shimmering particles surrounded her, lighting her up from the inside and obviously caused her a lot of pain.  
Urma and two of her scientists frantically worked on the consoles and a moment later the light dimmed down, and Sheela relaxed a bit. She nodded with her eyes closed and made a cometary in a shaking voice, which caused Urma to turn on the power gradually up again.  
  
“What are you doing,” whispered Amy horrified.

“Nothing you would understand,” Sikhu dismissed. “She volunteered, and it’s not supposed to hurt. In theory.”

“Like I did,” hissed Amy angrily. Sikhu turned to her and she immediately shrank back. Did she make him angry, again?  
He smiled smug and Amy hated him for it but didn’t do anything.

“You did not tell the Lord Doctor,” he pointed out.

“There is one decent person living on this ship. I don’t want her in his way, that’s all.”

“Sheela,” he asked disbelievingly, then laughed. “Why are you humans always so intrigued by her.”

“Maybe because she doesn’t lie  and bully you int things you don’t want to do”, Amy mumbled under her breath. Loudly she demanded again to know what they did to Sheela and again, Sikhu dismissed her, staring to question her instead.

Amy had enough. Yes, she was scared of Sikhu, she had no Idea what he was doing with her. And now he also refused to explain the obvious torture Sheela was going through?  
He could shove those questions up his butt. She was Amy Pond, a human and the Doctor’s Friend. She did only need four Words for him to destroy them all.  
“Why? You already have the Data. Read it. And then Tell me why you need this stuff. And not this fresh blood nonsense again. You will tell me exactly, what you did to me and the results of it.”

Sikhu stared back blank, the whole lab turned silent.

“I am under no obligation to tell you-“

“Yes, you are,” Sheela interrupted.

Shiku turned around. “ Afraid to break your promise,” he sneered.

“Afraid to break yours,” Sheela shoot back, and the whole lab gasped.

Urma’s finger hovered over the power button. “Permission to shut the test subject up?”

“Urma,” protested Amy disbelievingly. The Kapoaka ignored her.

Sheela’s eyes flickered instinctively to the floor, but then she looked up again, starring Sikhu down. “You... you are forgetting your place, Sikhu-syu.” She looked around, lingering a bit more on Urma. “You all do.”

Sikhu stared back a second, then looked away. “Get her out of my lab.”

Aleha moved, but instead of taking Sheela, she came to Amy, ready to escort her out like always. So, no answers this time either.

“Fine,” growled Amy.” But you won’t get any of my blood for the rest of the time I’m here. Oh, and Sheela? Feel free drop in for breakfast as soon as you’re finished here.”

Sheela nodded shy but with a twinkle in her eyes, illuminated by the strange light sill flowing through her.  
Amy nodded satisfied and left, making sure to concentrate her anger, so Aleha kept her distance the whole way to the Doctors quarters.

-o0O0o-

“I just don’t understand the hate they give- Are you even listening?”

The Doctor nodded absentmindedly. “Course I do. I don’t have a human brain, I can do more things at once.”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

He always had these scatter-brained professor vibes with his clothing. Now he just looked exactly like one, with the papers full of data and flowy scrips scattered all over the table and him nibbling at the straw in his jar of juice while scamming through two papers on the same time.

“Cause it doesn’t make sense. That data, too, but Sheela, I mean. It’s weird for Kapoaka to gang up on one of their own, even if she’d be from another hive originally. Their social classes forbid it. She could be an unseen, but then she’d not have any tasks and be already dead. Urg. This ship is so stupid!”

With perfect timing the doorbell chimed, and Amy jumped to fetch their Guest, but flinched back when she saw the Kapoaka. “What did they do to you!”  
Her shimmering blue scales were gravy and strangely deformed, her eyes were tired, and her voice was weak.

“Nothing a few minutes of rest and a glass of water can fix, don’t worry milady Amy. Doctor. Sheela-le.”

Amy helped her to the couch, while the Doctor rushed to fetch her said glass and brought a whole can of water with it. Sheela bowed but took it and emptied the first one in one go. She sighted and really, her scales started to get her normal color and form. She was completely dehydrated.

She fixed herself another glass while she explained. “It is one of the biggest issues we have to fix. The process is still deadly for species with an amount of water under 68% in their bodies.”

“But what exactly is this?”

“Mh? Oh, the second step of the cure. The bioelectric field destroys the encapsuled remains of the Virus. Like somebody gives you a scrub from the inside, feels like that, too.”

Amy blinked. “That’s not how bioelectricity works.”

“Yeah it does. What you humans do call it is just bio-patternal research on a cellular level,” the Doctor countered.

Amy nodded, then gulped. “Wait. So, when the vaccine is the first step, I have to do that, too. To be actually cured? If I’m infected.”

“Oh, you are. The vaccine works so far, that’s why Sikhu isn’t telling you anything. To not get your hopes up, if something goes wrong. But to not risk the spreading, even if you are cured, yes, you must do that too. Don’t worry. Once we have the final setting, which will be this evening, you can do it inside your TTC. And with that technology it doesn’t hurt one bit. I’ve done it before.”

“She’s infected,” the Doctor repeated.

Sheela raised her hands calmingly. “No. Well yes. No. Uhm, Infected, not sick. She has the virus inside her. But it couldn’t cause any damage, so far. And we’re positive we can keep it that way.”

“Ok. Then what am I infected with, Sheela.”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Sorry, what!”

She cleared her throat and looked away. “I... I cannot tell you, I’m afraid. The... commander forbid to ever speak the name of this illness aloud.”

The Doctor jumped up. “That’s it. I’m going to see him now!”

Surprisingly agile, Sheela slid before him, blocking his way. “Nononono! Please, sorry, not him. It wasn’t him. I don’t think he does know it and he’s in no condition to see you. You must not see him, until we can assure you won’t get infected as well!”

He stopped. “Not him? How many commanders did you have?”

How many Time Lords did survive, was the unasked question.

“Since the illness? Three. He’s the last one.”

The Doctors eyes went wide. “What’s his name.”

Sheela’s eyes wandered around, while she fiddled with her necklace.

“Sheela, what’s his name!”

“Kelliox,” she finally mumbled, “of the Drome.”

The Doctor stumbled backwards, caching himself on the couch and sinking into it. His face was white, and his eyes were full of fear but also a glowing hope, Amy had never seen before in his eyes.

“Doctor,” she carefully asked.

He did know there was another Time lord on board. But apparently it was a difference to have it confirmed, a Name.

He closed his eyes and took a breath. “And why doesn’t Commander Kelliox simply regenerate.”

“Because for as long as there is no cure it makes no sense.”

Regenerate. Again, that strange word.

“He would catch it immediately again,” the Doctor concluded.   
“Sheela, please. What is this. Look at this Data. I haven’t seen anything alike. Despite the fact that it is completely fragmented. Like a cake you only giving me a list of ingredients but want me to judge if it tastes good. A deadly cake but never mind.”

“I’m sorry. He was in denial and didn’t want anybody to panic, so he forbade it, once the first rumors of an infection turned up. He wasn’t known for wise decisions.“

“No kidding,” mumbled Amy.

Sheela played with her necklace while starring at the spread paper.

“I’m afraid,” she suddently confessed. “I’m afraid of what you’ll do once you find out. What the oncoming storm will do.”

“If it’s that bad you have to even more tell me, Sheela! Look. I’m the Doctor, I fix things. And I ‘ll give my best to fix this, too. I’m still here. Don’t you think if I wouldn’t help you, I’d suffer through this here. I’m bored to death, and yet, I’m here. Do you really think you Kapoaka would keep me from going?”

“Exactly,” whispered Sheela, and the Doctor blinked.

“Sheela,” he asked warily.

Sheela closed her eyes and clutched he necklace then let go and went to the door. “Follow me.”

“Where.”

“I can’t tell you. I can show you. I’m pretty sure you will recognize it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get dark. I will not go into detail next chapter to keep it in the rating.  
> I also didn't realize the setup would take this long but the story is about to start properly now.  
> Sorry for all the butchering of bio electricity, my friend studies it, so I know I give it a twist. Just bear with me. It's Doctor Who anyway, so what's science???
> 
> KD17012018


	10. X

-o0O0o-

There was a crack in her nail polish. Come to think of it, the whole thing was more than sloppily painted. The polish had been cheap, that why she could see the strokes she had done mere day ago on a completely different planet. Her gaze wandered down to the soft blue carpet and the shaking started anew.   
There, on her middle finger, there was another crack in her nail polish.   
But the colour blue had already reminded her f the soft blue shimmer oft that strange barrier they had passed after climbing maintenance shaft after maintenance shaft. They weren’t really maintenance shafts, just the shortcuts for the Kapoaka who didn’t wish to use the long wide corridors made for the Time Lords and thus the ceilings had no need for being higher than five feet.   
And that shimmer remembered her of the flames.

The pod they had pushed the poor private in kept the newly mutated virus inside while providing the ill body with everything the patient needed. It soothed the pain, and they were in pain, and comforted them for the last few days of their lives. Because once you were in a pod, you never left it, not even dead. They simply pushed a button and incinerated you, then cleaned it and put the next patient in it. The whole Section Beta-0R3 with its seven Transportation Deck was filled with row after row after row of these.  
And then there was what became of the patients. What is going to become of her. The swollen, half decomposed bodies, and the whimpers. The whimpers, because they couldn’t scream anymore.

“Doctor” she whispered, without lifting her head out of the cocoon she had curled herself into on the couch on his apartment. The aggerated pacing before her stopped. She couldn’t bear to be touched by anybody right now and she was more than glad he respected it. “Promise to kill me before I become like that.”

“You are not going to,” Sheela snapped sharply.

“Oh really,” the Doctor hissed back. “This is the Flu! How’s she not going to become like that!”

Amy rose her head for the first time. That was definitely not the flu. “The… Flu?”

“The Ebsai Flu. Not Influenza,” the Doctor corrected. “The most deadliest pandemic of the universe. I should have known. It’s the only illness the symptoms fitted, the only illness of which a Time Lord can’t regenerate to get cured. But the incubation time is wrong, and that put me off. Seven days, not three!”  
Then he stopped. “No. Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong. Everybody on this ship had been infected. But that’s wrong. This is the Flu, the pandemic who razed out whole planar systems within two weeks. That’s what put me off. You should be dead. You should be dead a hundred times now. How are you not dead!”

“Because Sikhu has developed a cure.”

“There is no cure,” the Doctor prompted.

“There is now. I haven’t suffered for the last 237 years, for this to fail at such a critical point.”

The Doctor sunk down in an armchair, then smiled disbelievingly. “Well, look at that. Why I am I even surprised. Leave it to the Kapoaka to develop a cure against the Ebsai Flue. Best Bioengineers, indeed.”

Sheela bowed. “Everything we archived and everything we are, is only possible to the benevolence of the Time Lords.”

The Doctor huffed, then suddenly jumped up. “Two-hundred- thirty-seven? You are the Patient Zero! That’s why they hate you this much! Why are you still alive?”

Sheela tensed, and her gaze dropped to the tips of her boots. No. No, not Sheela!

“You,” whispered Amy. She had watched enough Zombie-Apocalypse movies with Rory to know what a Patient Zero was. “That’s why Aleha didn’t want me to hang out with you. She was scared you would contaminate me. And you did!”

“Private Rhesu contaminated you the moment he broke down in the corridor. That’s why Sikhu insisted you needed to drink the vaccine as soon as possible. That coughing fit was the release of the first eyrie. And yes, we did a DNA analysis of the virus in you to confirm that.”

Amy stared at the calm figure. Sheela was honest and open, she shared everything she knew, as always, and it was soothing in a way. Except she shouldn’t know that. Not even Urma and Aleha had known the specific results of the tests and they had been honest, because Urma had complained for hours how this secrecy blocked her work.  
“How do you even know all this stuff!”

“I think, I know.”

There was something in the Doctors eyes, Amy couldn’t quite pinpoint. He corrected his bowtie, then fidgeted with his fingers and carefully leaned forward, taking a cautious step. “You… you not happen to… own a fob watch?”

And he grew completely white when Sheela dropped her head and fumbled something out of her trouser pockets and timidly showed him. Amy sat up straight to see better, and really; a silver fob watch, decorated with those circles and lines Amy came to associate with the script of Gallifrey.

“I apologize. The commander thought it was best for me not to openly wear it, with the current misgiving I’ve caused.”

He starred down at the silver piece of jewellery for a long time before he extended this hand mechanically. “May…I?”

Something was wrong. “Doctor?”

He ignored her and delicately picked it up, as if it wasn’t solid metal but something fragile which could crumble to ashes any breath he took. He slowly turned it from one hand to the other, exanimating it warily, then pressed his right eye closed, lent back and pressed the button to open the lid. He stared at the dial, then frowned. “It’s a fob watch. Nothing but a plain, old, boring pocket watch.”   
He sounded even a bit offended about it.

What was he doing now? Amy glanced to Sheela and found her actually offended. The Doctor apparently noticed, and added hastily: “I mean, those are the best. Look at it. A nice, old, fob watch. Beautiful calligraphy. And, yep, the clockwork is absolutely precise, a perfect piece for measuring time. And… Woha!”

He stopped. “I… I didn’t know he ever did that.”

“Only once,” Sheela confirmed, full of pride.

“I see.”

And for the first time on this ship, Amy got the feeling that he really did. This was her Doctor, in control of the situation and the smartest person in the room with nobody fooling him.  
He extended his hand with the watch. “A pleasure to meet you, Sheela-ama.”

She took it and bowed. “The pleasure is all mine, Doctor.”

He nodded then clapped his hands. “Now. I need a Talk with Sikhu. The whole research team, actually.”

“Shall Captain Corha be present as well?”

“Nope, but she’s next. It’s time to stop this farce of a power-play and start working. Tell Kelliox, we’ll have dinner together this evening.”

“I certainly will find room in his schedule,” she winked.

“What?”   
They totally lost Amy.

The Doctor grinned. “She’s the ships councilor and Comander Kelliox’s Personal Assistant.”

“That’s as far from an Intern as possible,” Amy spluttered.

“Not from the information you gave me,” Sheela defended herself. “And I’m currently suspended from active duty.”

“You have a pocket watch, given you by Rassilon himself for extraordinary accomplishments in the social sector of trans-species communication,” the Doctor teased.

Sheela was clearly embarrassed, but smiled. “I still had no idea what an Intern is. We don’t do Interns. How do Interns even work. Is that a whole own social class or … Hey, don’t’ walk out on me like that! I have questions! I just answered all yours!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KD 06112018


End file.
